Hey Monkeys,
We've been hearing rumblings of activity from headhunter contacts ahead of on-cycle recruiting for 2023 starts. Does this sound crazy, given that 2022 on-cycle just happened a few months ago? Yes. Does this surprise us, given how insane PE recruiting is? Not one bit.
We've noticed folks on here asking for info/client lists for the main HHs, and noticed there wasn't a consolidated, updated list. Knowing the client coverage for each HH is crucial for planning your strategy for intro meetings.
Below are the actual client lists for each of the major headhunters in the private equity recruiting process, updated as of the most recent on-cycle recruiting process. Note that we've excluded some of the smaller/irrelevant names, and included notable hedge funds and crossover funds.
As always, feel free to DM us if any questions or if you want any other info on PE recruiting!
Henkel Search Partners
In our experience, Henkel (HSP) had the most impressive client list and was very pleasant to work with. They cover many of the largest and most prestigious firms, and you should definitely make an effort to get along with them.
- AEA
- Anchorage
- Ares Direct Lending
- Audax
- BC Partners
- BDT
- Blackrock Infrastructure
- Blackstone (Energy)
- Carlyle (NY, DC, Menlo offices)
- CD&R
- I Squared Capital
- KKR (all groups across all offices)
- Roark Capital
- Silver Point
- Tiger Global
- TPG (Growth/Rise)
- Veritas
- Vista
- Warburg Pincus
CPI is another top headhunter with great clients. Note that they'll probably ask you paper LBO questions or give you a small case study in your intro meeting with them, which no other headhunter does from our knowledge.
- Advent
- American Securities
- Ares
- Berkshire Partners
- Cerberus
- CVC (Capital and Growth)
- EQT
- GIC
- Hellman & Friedman
- Insight Partners
- Madison Dearborn
- Metalmark Capital
- New Mountain Capital
- Oak Hill
- Onex
- Providence Equity
- Silver Lake
- Stone Point
- Sycamore
- TA Associates
- Thomas H. Lee
- Trilantic
- Vistria
- Welsh Carson
If you're interested in tech and VC/growth investing, you need to speak with Ratio. Very impressive roster of top VC and growth firms, and some heavy-hitting buyout names.
- Abry Partners
- Apollo (incl. NR and Hybrid Value)
- Atairos
- Bessemer
- CapitalG
- Charlesbank
- Centana Growth Partners
- Cove Hill
- Francisco Partners
- General Atlantic
- Golden Gate Capital
- JMI Equity
- Lindsay Goldberg
- Meritech Capital
- Parthenon Capital
- Providence Strategic Growth
- Redpoint Ventures
- Ribbit Capital
- Riverside Partners
- Searchlight Capital
- Silversmith Capital
- Spark Capital
- Stellex Capital Management
- Thrive Capital
- TPG Real Estate
- True Wind
Amity has some decent clients and a lot of smaller names that we've excluded. Pleasant people to work with.
- ADIA
- Altimeter
- Ardian
- Artemis Capital
- Bain Capital (incl. Tech Opps)
- Centerbridge
- Clearlake
- Clearview Capital
- Founders Circle Capital
- Founders Fund
- HarbourVest Partners
- HIG
- HPS Investment Partners
- Incline Equity Partners
- Kohlberg & Company
- Pritzker Private Capital
- Temasek
- TowerBrook
- Vestar
Dynamics Search Partners
We unfortunately don't have their full client list, but DSP covers a lot of top names both in buyout and HF clients.
Despite their name, they don't just cover west coast clients. Nice to work with and great coverage across tech.
- Accel
- Arcline
- Evergreen Coast Capital
- ICONIQ Growth
- Patient Square Capital
- TPG Capital
- Thoma Bravo (all funds)
- Serent Capital
- Sumeru Equity Partners
A little more under-the-radar, but they're very good to work with and have poached some good clients from other firms.
- Accel-KKR
- Aurora Capital
- Freeman Spogli
- Marlin Equity Partners
- Oaktree
- Odyssey Investment Partners
- Platinum Equity
- Spectrum Equity
- Valor Equity Partners
Mainly MM names. They are personal and collaborative, and the intro meeting was less interview-like than other HH meetings.
- Bain Capital Double Impact
- Harvest Partners
- HGGC
- Siris Capital
Their main legacy client is Blackstone, but besides that their coverage seems pretty sparse.
- Blackstone
- Crestview
- DigitalBridge
Interesting mix of clients, ranging from MM buyout to Coatue. Intro meeting was friendly and collaborative.
- Carlyle (Real Estate, LA)
- Coatue
- Clarion Capital
- Corsair Capital
- Fifth Wall
- Genstar
- Gryphon Investors
- Great Hill Partners
- The Jordan Company
- Norwest Venture Partners
- Oaktree
- Vector Capital
Comments (65)
Great list. FYI charlesbank was through Charles Aris for 2022 on cycle, but maybe it's changed
Thanks for letting us know! Ratio's client list specifies "investment bankers" for Charlesbank, perhaps they shared coverage.
That makes a ton of sense- this was for MBB
SearchOne covered Clearlake on cycle '21
SG has sixth street.
Very helpful info. I think one important thing to note is firms might have one HH for on-cycle then use a different one for off-cycle, for a regional office, or for one of their other funds. So it might be worth your time to have intro calls with all the HH listed above rather than just the ones that have the firms you're interested in.
This is a good point. It's largely consistent but stuff definitely shifts so it's worth having good relationships with everybody
Good list, accurate
SG also has Sixth Street, GIP, MSIP, Tailwind, Crestview, One Rock
CPI does A-KKR, Brookfield, GS MBD, MSD, Permira, Platinum, TCV
This is very useful, any chance we can get similar data for London?
Array
How does one get in contact with these headhunters, do you just have to hope they reach out to you? What if they can't find you cuz your in a niche IB group?
you can always reach out to headhunters and it's nothing like cold emailing. these people want to talk to you because they get paid when they place you somewhere. most of them have their team pages with emails available on their websites so just pick one of the associates there and shoot them an email saying you're interested in recruiting and would like to schedule an intro call.
Any solid HH's that cover fintech/fig?
Was always curious, why does PE/HF use head hunters while IB doesn't? Does PE just not want to waste time and resources having their own internal recruiting team?
Correct. Funds don't hire enough people per year to justify in-housing recruitment.
Since the process is done through headhunters, does networking with associates and others at the firms help with recruiting?
What's their fee for placing you?
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Yep I think that's the going rate. There's also a clawback period for the first 6-12 months where if a candidate they place quits, the HH has to find someone else for free.
Firms pay this fee correct?
Im sorry but can someone explain what this means a little bit?
PE firms pay staffing/search firms (AKA headhunters) to help them find and screen for top talent so the PE firm can expedite their hiring process. The headhunters at these firms get paid by the PE firm (as mentioned above) each time they successfully refer a candidate and he or she gets hired by the PE firm.
Big Question is: when is it kicking off? Early new year???
damn kicking off before H1B process, international about to be screwed again
When is class of 2023 PE recruiting starting? Like January or May?
If anyone can share similar London/Europe info it would be greatly appreciated
heard of a few random stories with people who had summer roles at top banks getting entry-level gigs at small PE shops out of undergrad - how common is this and does this fit into the normal PE pipeline at all?
The PE analyst opportunities don't only pertain to small PE shops. A significant number of large institutional funds have implemented analyst programs: https://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/megafundumm-pe-analyst-program-d…, but they hire much fewer analysts per year (i.e. 3-4 at BX vs. ~100 at GS). Any PE analyst from a high-quality fund is viewed incredibly favorably and will receive looks both on-cycle and off-cycle. Unlike banking, usually people don't recruit unless they don't like their fund because they're going to have to rebuild goodwill and relearn processes
any thoughts on PC analysts at firms like BX?
Does anyone know which headhunters have a large client who are focused on Energy/O&G Private equity?
DSP has a large coverage universe of Texas-based funds -- both generalist and oil and gas (Quantum, Tailwater come to mind, as well as a number of other smaller shops). SG Partners covers Blackstone Energy Partners. On the infra side, CPI has ECP, fka Energy Capital Partners and Bellcast covers Stonepeak.
Edited per below - thanks
Ratio does NOT work for Stonepeak. BellCast Partners does.
With regards to coverage, do these staffing firms mainly support the PE business or are they all encompassing?
If I wanted to get into a credit arm of a PE firm for example or cap markets role, would that fall under their domain?
following
Sometimes they might cover everything, but different parts of a firm can be supported by different groups. For example, TPG Capital is covered by Gold Coast Partners, but TPG Rise is covered by HSP. But the other hand, Gold Coast covers all the funds for Thoma Bravo. This is all to say that the answer is not cut and dry. You just have to see what each person covers.
Bruh - there's no way on earth you're a banking MD...keeping tabs on all the on-cycle headhunters and whatnot lmao.
Saving for later - thanks!
^
Do HH's have IB clients? Thinking of reaching out to them a couple months into my analyst stint to try and lateral to an EB/BB
Not any of the above firms. Have seen some firms like pinnacle group do it, but honestly you can find postings on website of BBs/EBs. There's really no reason to have a middle man liaison as big banks have large HR teams.
This is incorrect. SG partners has done placements for Centerview and Allen & Co, among others.
Wait - are people receiving emails from these guys already? damn
Would on-cycle 2023 recruiting mean current seniors in college who have IB jobs lined up after graduation?
Thank you for sharing!
Which are the best for hedge funds?
Generally Dynamics and SearchOne are considered to be pretty good. I think Oxbridge has a few as well
Does someone know who covers lower middle market funds in Chicago. Thinking some like CORE industrial, CIVC, Shore Capital, Silver Oak
BellCast works with Wind Point Partners and Silver Oak
Sadly this list is not accurate. It's missing a ton of funds. Some firms do not send around client lists so it's harder to know who they work with. I know BellCast works with a lot more funds that is listed here. Likely the same for some of the others.
Senior in college here. I have a connection through someone at Dynamic Search Partners through the same greek org, but we went to different schools. Given the weight they have on decisions, how should I reach out to them? Because I'm still in college, I'm not sure if I should reach out as a student asking for pe recruitment advice or if I'm more direct and ask to get to know each other for the future when I try to recruit for pe. Thoughts?
Updated BellCast client list:
Not many REPE roles in OP. Anyone have insights into REPE coverage?
Following
Would like to point out that HSP sent out a modeling test and multiple choice test through TTS this cycle, which presumably will be true in the future.
I did the tests before actually having my HH call and got about an 80%. Not sure how much it actually mattered, but I imagine that they use that internally to guess how well you can do in interviews. HSP sent me a ton of interviews when things kicked off and I landed my job through them.
What's the consensus on reaching out directly to associates at HHs? I've read in this thread and other threads that's totally fine but wanted to know if there's a best practice method when reaching out.
Nice
who covers l catterton?
Bumping this for all the analysts apprehensively waiting for on-cycle.
bump
FYI for the entire infra/energy universe - One Search and Madison Hunt are some solid under-the-radar names
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